Love Alters All
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: ****In the aftermath of Tony's heart attack Maria finally finds out and races home from Cyprus to be by his side! Will he survive? If so can their love survive Tony's death bed confession? Just a few short scenes!


**Love Alters All**

"… I'm sorry Maria."

"What? What are you saying?" The young girl asked her mother, beginning to shake as her father gently took baby Liam from his daughter's arms.

"We've just taken the call… they said that they've been trying to reach you all evening. Tony was taken into hospital a few hours ago. He's suffered a massive heart attack!"

"Well, is he going to be alright? Is he alive? Please mum, I can't go through all this again… not after Liam, I can't lose Tony to!" Maria cried, tears beginning to well in her soft eyes, spilling over and trickling down her cheeks as her mother took her distraught daughter into her warm arms.

"He's alive." Her mother explained. "But the prognosis isn't good hunny. They don't think he'll make it through the night."

"No!" Maria howled. "No! This can't be happening… I know he said that he wasn't feeling well… but he said that it was just indigestion…I've got to go to him… I've got to… I need to see him!"

"Maria, sweetheart," her father cut in with this, "It's late, and you're not thinking straight. I understand. But you're not going to get a flight now… they said that they'd call again in the morning… if he's made it through the night me and your mother will personally put you and baby Liam on a plane first thing."

"Is anybody with him?" The young woman asked, not being able to bear the thought of Tony being alone.

"Roy Cropper." Her mother explained.

"Oh I bet Tony's loving that." Maria scoffed, wiping her wet eyes as she sat down beside her father, distraught.

"Apparently he's the one who found him. Tony asked him not to leave him."

"He's a god man." She sighed, a long, thoughtful pause following, before she choked a sob. "I'm going to call Hailey."

"… and Hailey, tell him that I love him."

The young woman had been on the phone to Roy's wife and her friend for the last quarter of an hour, as the older woman had done her best to reassure Maria and explain what she knew about the situation – which under the circumstances wasn't much, apart from the fact that Tony was dyeing – and there was little she could do to offer comfort to the young woman.

"I'm sure he already knows that sweetheart."

"I just need him to know…"

"I know…" Hailey sighed. "I know you do. We'll tell him."

"Oh, and, thank Roy for me."

Maria couldn't see it, but at the other end of the line the corners of Hailey's lips turned upwards to form a slight smile at this.

"I will." She replied. "We'll see you tomorrow, and Maria, just sit tight… there's nothing more you can do for tonight, we'll let you know if there's any change."

"Thank you Hailey." Maria sighed. "Thank you for being there for Tony. You're a good friend."

"Just let us know if there's anything more we can do."

"Can you make him better?" Maria asked, voice broken with emotion. "Make him hang on for me?"

"I'm sorry." Hailey sighed.

There was a pause. "No, I'm sorry." Maria apologised after a moment. "I just feel so helpless. I wish there was more I could do. I wish I could be there, with him."

The conversation carried on for a few minutes more, until both women finally put the receiver down, and Maria broke down and cried.

The following morning as Maria waved goodbye to her parents – Liam tucked up sleeping soundly in her arms – and boarded the plane which would take them both home, she felt empty. Tony had made it through the night, but was still very ill, and still nobody knew exactly how much time he might have left. She thought back to the conversation they'd shared the evening Tony had booked them the tickets, they were supposed to be making this trip together… and this only made Maria feel more alone. As she took her seat, by the window, Liam beside her, she felt as though her heart would break, and, looking at the empty space which Tony would have occupied the tears began to well in her eyes… and she prayed that he would hold on for her, if not long enough to make it to their wedding day, at least long enough for them to say goodbye.

**CORONATION. STREET**

"Hey." Maria smiled, stroking the hand of Tony's she'd been holding as he stirred, for the first time since she'd made it to the hospital.

Tony's eyes widened at the sight of her as his tired and heavy eyes cleared, and the slight figure of the girl sitting next to him came into view.

"Maria?" He exclaimed at the sight of her, before smiling. "When did you get back?" He asked weakly.

"A couple of hours ago." She explained. Now awake, Maria had the chance to observe for the first time how tired he looked, there were dark circles under his eyes – which were sunken and slightly bloodshot – his skin was deathly pale, and was still covered in a thin film of sweat, and the rhythmic beat of the heart monitor was distracting as she listened out for sign of any, even slight, abnormality.

"I thought I wasn't going to see you again." He sighed.

Maria nodded. "I know… you gave me such a scare." She squeezed his palm, and he returned the gesture.

"I'm glad you made it, just in case."

"Don't say that Tony." Maria sobbed at his words at this, the tears trickling down her cheeks. "Besides, they say you're doing a little better." She added hopefully. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." He replied. "So tired, but better for seeing you… how's my little man?"

Maria smiled. "He's fine." She reassured him. "But you need to rest. The doctors say that you're still very fragile, you're heart's still weak."

"I can rest better now that you're here." Tony smiled, before he sighed. "Please, don't leave me!" He pleaded. "I don't want to be alone."

"I'm not going anywhere." She promised him. "Just get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

And with this Maria watched as Tony drifted into sleep rapidly before her eyes, proving just how sick and weak he really was.

Almost a week after Tony's discharge from the hospital he and Maria sat, alone except for baby Liam, on the sofa in Maria's front room. Maria's head gently rested on Tony's shoulder. The two had spent the majority of the past few days in each other's company as Tony had required a lot of care and looking after as part of the conditions of his discharge from the hospital. Although Tony hadn't forgotten what he'd told Roy – whilst thinking he was dying in the grip of a second heart attack – and knew that it was only a matter of time now before the police caught up with him. He didn't want Maria to find out that way, and so as he turned to glance at her he decided that there was no other option laid open to him now, but to tell her the devastating truth, no matter how difficult that might be.

"Maria." He sighed a last. "I have something to tell you."

"Yeah?" She smiled.

"I killed Liam."

Maria hadn't spoken to Tony since the evening of his terrible admission, and he couldn't say that he blamed her. He'd pleaded with her both before and after his arrest to speak to him, to hear what he had to say. He wanted her to know that he loved her, but she wouldn't answer the door, or return any of his phone calls. Now, as Tony sat alone in his cell he thought of her, of the good times they'd shared, and he wondered how he couldn't possibly have realised before all of this how much he could love someone so dearly. He recalled the answer phone message he'd left her when they'd allowed him to make his call after his initial arrest… in his mind there had been nobody else he'd rather have made that call to, and he just hoped that she'd heard his words, and had believed him.

'_Maria, Maria it's me. I'm at the police station… they've charged me with Liam's murder, and I'm not going to deny it. Listen, I just wanted to say I love you, everything we had, that was all real…at least for me, nothing has changed there… and, that I'll wait for you if you change your mind. Please call me. Goodbye._'

**CORONATION. STREET**

"Tony." Maria cried.

"Maria?"

"I'll wait for you." She smiled, slightly breathless as she ran towards him.

"But Maria," Tony frowned at this as the young police officer beside him tightened his grip on his arm, hands handcuffed behind his back. "Why? You've heard what I've done. I had Liam killed!"

"I know." Maria nodded.

"Your husband, Liam's father! I'm the reason that little boy will grow up not knowing who his daddy was! I don't deserve you Maria, I don't deserve forgiveness!"

"I know… and there was a time I would have hated you for it, I'd have killed you myself! But you will pay for that, and I love you Tony. What we've got now is real, I can't turn my back on that. You're not the same person you were back then, I've seen you change, I know you've changed," She looked at him, "and I think if Liam could see you now… the person you've become, he'd approve."

"Do you?" Tony asked, looking Maria squarely in the eyes at this. "I'm not so sure… it would take somebody an awful long time to forgive someone for trying to have them killed… and the hurt I saw it cause to so many of those who I love. I'm not sure that I'm ready to forgive myself for that yet." He explained dejectedly, the note of personal guilt clear in his tone.

"And that's how I know you've changed." She explained. "The old Tony wouldn't have cared, he'd have done what needed to be done and moved on… No second thoughts, no thought at all for those who'd been left behind, not for the suffering you'd caused."

"But you heard my sentence; I'm going away for a very long time!"

"Look…"She held up her right hand, pointing to her ring finger with her left index to reveal the engagement ring she'd taken off when Tony had initially confessed to her. "I put it back on." She explained.

Tony smiled slightly. "I love you Maria. That was always real."

"I know." She nodded. "I believe you."

"We have to go now." The young police officer interrupted, and Tony nodded, not taking his eyes off Maria as she watched as he was led away.

A few months later, nearly a year after Tony's initial arrest, Tony and Maria married. It wasn't the first prison marriage on the street, and it probably wouldn't be the last. But they'd been right, the love they felt for each other was real, and Tony had done his best to redeem his actions in Maria's eyes in the months following Liam's death. It may have initially been to protect his own ends, but their feelings for each other had blossomed and were mutual, and Maria could see now that Tony really was a changed man.


End file.
